Help saving the planet (Earth that is)

[Vega]

I noticed quite a few of us use these powerpacks for anti-dewing, automated scoping (or armchair astronomy ) purposes. I was thinking, rather than sucking power from the national grid we can easily trickle charge a 12v power source (eg car battery) by using the power of our closest star:D. I just got a 12v 1.5W solar panel trickle charger for £9.99 off ebay and it works a treat in keeping my battery alive (I use a spare car battery for my shed fans). The solar panel doesn't need direct sunlight to charge as just daylight is enough. All of the relevant connections are readily available for using car batteries in conjunction with anti dew kits / EQ mounts etc if u dint fancy doing too much wiring. Apart from all that I find it quite exciting that my shed is eco-friendly in a schoolboy geeky kind of way .

Check these out

If you want to do a small bit to help bring your eleco bills down... or help reduce yer carbon footprint thingamajig... it's definitely worth thinking about.

Vega

Planet saver and obsessed money saver

[James]

I've been pondering getting a solar power charger for my battery but wasn't sure how long a 4.8W solar charger would take to charge a 17AH battery up or is the point of it that I could just keep it topped up?

Now, if there was a version that could use moonlight...

James

[Whippy]

Save money and reduce your carbon footprint? Get your car converted to run on LPG mate. Saves you an absolute fortune.

Tony..

[Vega]

Hi James

Here's a quote that might be useful to you from one of the Question/Answer sections of someone selling a similar unit to the one I bought....

Q) I want to charge 4 leisure batteries and wondered if I could do this by linking 4 solar panels together? How long would it take to charge a 75amph battery assuming there is enough daylight?

A) 1 panel provides approx 150mA per hour in the most favourable conditions. so it follows that 4 will provide a max output of around 600mA. At this rate it will take 125 hours to fully charge a 75Ah battery from flat.

Lots more useful Q & A's here

I can't do the math for you tho :shock: One great thing about them is that they have a diode in there to stop the battery from draining at night so you can just keep it connected witHout worry.

Tony..

Totally agree with you but didn't want to go off on a tangent with carbon footprints.. that's a whole new (not so astro related) discussion.

Matt

[James]

Q) I want to charge 4 leisure batteries and wondered if I could do this by linking 4 solar panels together? How long would it take to charge a 75amph battery assuming there is enough daylight?

A) 1 panel provides approx 150mA per hour in the most favourable conditions. so it follows that 4 will provide a max output of around 600mA. At this rate it will take 125 hours to fully charge a 75Ah battery from flat.

Excellent - thats fine, its not as if I ever get two clear nights in a row so I could just leave it attached. Thanks for the info/link. I think I've been persuaded!

Tony..

Totally agree with you but didn't want to go off on a tangent with carbon footprints.. that's a whole new (not so astro related) discussion.

... unless we bring in the carbon footprint of streetlights... oh...wait, that is another topic.

James

[Whippy]

Totally agree with you but didn't want to go off on a tangent with carbon footprints.. that's a whole new (not so astro related) discussion

Oh I don't know, scooting round the country to star parties...

Seriously though, there's a strong stream of research coming through that suggests that because of the amount of extra pollutants in the air, not only are we affecting the climate but there's less sun coming through the atmosphere, making the sun appear dimmer. And it won't disappear at night time....

Tony..

[Vega]

BTW Don't buy one from ebay... maplin are cheaper! which is were I ended up buying from (not ebay as previously stated!).

I dunno, all these auction sellers trying to make money. puh

[George]

What we need is someone to come up with cloudpower then we would be energy rich

[Vega]

Sorry to dig up this thread out of the ark but.. Just thought I'd mention that I added a 4.8 watt solar panel in the mix to my 1.5watt / car battery rig a couple of months ago and It charges up beautifully! 6.3w seems to do the trick. I now know that the 1.5w is simply designed to prevent battery drain while not in use and just cannot replenish a battery after a sustained amount of use. The EQ6 red light was flashing a few months back so I reverted to a 12v mains adaptor temporarily. After adding the 4.8w solar panel and not charging the car battery in any way other than 'the power of our star', the EQ6 ran on the car battery flawlessly for over 2 hours last night. I recommend this setup to anyone who very rarely has the need for a portable power source. Another thing worth noting is i'm not even using a deep cycle battery, just a standard lead acid car battery.

Matt

[saturn5]

No need to save the planet anymore,according to some scientists the planet may not warm up anymore for the next 10 years.

Phew, what a relief that they know what they're taking about. :? sorry,thats another story.

Really excellent idea though Matt.

[Paxo]

I've got enough light pollution around here that if they produced a Na/Hg light sensitive model, I could probably run all night on it! Fuel cells, that's the way forward......

Steve..

[beamish]

It's NOT about saving the planet, she's fine . It's about saving humankind !

[Vega]

Erm... I wish I changed the heading of this thread now... my latest post was more about powering my mount :shock:

Matt

[scotastro]

Agree with buying the solar panel from Maplins and the diode gizmo too. I have used one for two years it has stood up to all sorts of weather shows no sign of letting in water and keeps batteries top up a treat.

Scotastro

[Vega]

For weather protection I just cut the clear plastic that it was delivered in and placed it over the top and underneath and fastened them together again with some trusty staples First time I've ever had a use for it. [RANT]However, I still think that electrical goods are over packaged in the horrible stuff these days!!![/RANT]

Matt